


It's complicated

by MedeaV



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abortion, F/M, Pregnancy complications, Secret Relationship, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 04:51:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6501484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MedeaV/pseuds/MedeaV
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Combining two prompts: Natasha's pregnant against all odds with Bucky's child, and Civil War.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's complicated

**Author's Note:**

> Warning for unwanted pregnancy (duh)

Natasha blinks. “Say that again.”

The doctor is clearly trying to hide behind a screen. Bad luck for him, because they are in Stark Tower and everything is fucking transparent. “Well, I looked at the X-Ray and then I did an ultrasound scan and a blood test just to be completely sure-”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard that,” Natasha interrupts him harshly, causing the scientist to seek further cover behind a desk. “But that’s literally impossible. I had a tubal ligation a long time ago.”

“I know.” The poor scientist is receding further into his lab, almost crashing into his chair. “I know, okay? But the evidence is clear.”

Natasha stops pursuing him and lets him get a comfortable distance between them. “So. You’re telling me that I’m pregnant.”

“Have you been seeing Bruce again?” Tony cuts in, sounding amused because her dead glare is currently not directed at him.

“Fuck you, Stark,” Natasha immediately throws back and he surprisingly does have the decency to shut up.

The doctor has gotten some of his shit together again. “I’m telling you that a fertilized egg has implanted itself inside your Fallopian tube.”

“Eh, not really my area of expertise,” Tony states while Natasha considers if dangling the doctor out of the window will get him to speak plain English. “But that’s not where it’s supposed to be, right?”

“It’s called an ectopic pregnancy, outside of the uterus,” the scientist explains, adding spitefully: “And it’s not my area of expertise either.”

“How the hell could this even happen?” Natasha crosses her arms and the doctor visibly winces.

Tony jumps to his defence, mostly because he enjoys teasing her. “I think that’s the question you should be answering, Romanoff.”

Natasha ignores him. “How could this happen _anatomically_?”

“Recanalisation,” the doctor answers hesitantly. “I looked it up, they are called tuboperitoneal fistulas. They are wide enough for passage of sperm but too small for an ovum, sorry, the egg cell.”

“This sounds like a hell of a bad joke,” Natasha states coldly.

The doctor does not dare to move a finger as long as her eyes are fixed on him. “Well, we can take you to a specialist if you don’t trust him,” Tony interjects. “But I guess you do, because you let him treat your injuries.”

Natasha gives the doctor a scrutinizing look, almost causing him to faint, then decides Tony is right. The scientist just wouldn’t dare, not with how rightfully scared he actually is of her. “Not necessary. How long?”

“I can’t tell that, I’m not a gynaecologist, I can’t give you the time of conception.” Well, she actually was talking about how long to get rid of it, but conception date might be helpful as well. “You’ll need a specialist. Also for the abortion.”

“Abortion?,” Tony repeats horrified. “Can’t you, just, reimplant it where it’s supposed to be? Or, I don’t know, freeze it Captain America-style so she can keep it in her fridge and implant it if she changes her mind?”

“Cut it, Stark, I’m not keeping this thing,” Natasha interrupts, leaving the room without another word when she suddenly feels nauseous.

* * *

 

She’s not sure if Tony talks to the doctor guy or if he’s just intelligent enough to keep his mouth shut about this whole thing. Anyway, she gets no funny looks, no intrusive questions and no stupid remarks. Fine. She couldn’t be bothered to care either way.

Tony doesn’t stick his nose into her business either, just reminding her cheekily that she’s free to do whatever she wants with whomever she wants. He also points her to a very discreet abortion specialist. It doesn’t surprise her in the least that he knows one, she was rather surprised when she looked for an illegitimate child a few years ago and found none. From that point, he leaves it all to her.

Tony Stark probably shows such an uncharacteristic empathy because he thinks she got lonely, made some poor decisions and ended up with a slash a few one night stands. Not exactly what happened.

Also, it was way more than just one night. And counting.

It’s kind of unsettling, considering that James Barnes is on the other side in this whole story, but she still runs off to meet him whenever they have the time. Which is not all that often but apparently often enough for this shit to go down.

She is sitting on a roof now, dangling her feet 16 feet above the strangers passing through the street. Falling wouldn’t kill her and with the rope at her belt, she wouldn’t even get hurt. Not that she would fall, but she likes knowing her options.

She grips her Glock even though the silent footsteps are easily recognisable for her, not turning around. She only relaxes when James sits next to her, his boots dangling down the roof. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Natasha repeats, staring off into the distance. Nobody ever looks up, they are almost invisible up here. She doesn’t think that Stark meant the Winter Soldier with _whomever you want_. Probably nobody on Cap’s team.

“What emergency did you wanna talk about?” James asks, deliberately not looking down.

Natasha snorts. “Emergency.” Well, better make it fast, like with band aids. “I’m pregnant. Kind of.”

James freezes. “But- I thought-”

“Yeah, you thought that because that’s what I told you,” Natasha interrupts coolly. “And I told you because that’s what I believed. Actually, it’s complicated.”

James rolls his shoulders, the colour still drained from his face. “I’m listening.”

Natasha sighs and kicks her legs against thin air. “The way I understood it is… my body tried to repair it, my infertility. Which allowed me to get kind of pregnant but wouldn’t actually make it possible to have a child.”

James is silent for a long time. “Would you want one?”

Why the hell is that the first question on his mind? “Does it matter?”

“I don’t know.” He’s looking intently at his feet. “But it should.”

“Not like I can do anything about it,” Natasha reminds.

James sighs, clearly not content. “Okay. Who knows about this?”

“Stark and two doctors.” Natasha adds: “All of which are gonna keep their mouths shut, trust me.”

James nods absentmindedly. “But they don’t know about…?”

“About you? No.” Natasha snorts. “Like I’d tell them. Like they’d dare to ask.”

James chuckles briefly. “Okay. And the doctors, they told you that you couldn’t have the child?”

Somehow, the word _child_ bothers her. “Well, it couldn’t reach my uterus, so it just implanted itself where it was. If it grew much further, I would have internal bleeding, rupture and potentially organ damage.”

James pulls a face. “So, you already got rid of it?”

“It’s… complicated.” Natasha hates this sentence. “I’m getting medical treatment to stop the growth of the… basically, it’s an abortion. But right now, I’m still kind of pregnant.”

He doesn’t touch her. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Natasha responds quietly. “There’s nothing to say or do about it. I just wanted you to know that we pushed this bundle of cells into existence just to kill it then. Unknowingly, but still.”

“Well, if you put it that way, we sound like fucking monsters.” James sighs. “You tell me if you need anything, okay? Anything.”

“Even if I didn’t want to meet again?” Natasha inquires.

“Especially then.” Amusement enters his face. “Though that would be a little cruel. I mean, we almost had a child together.”

“First off, it was only a fertilized egg,” Natasha returns. “Second, even if I had your child, I could still leave whenever the fuck I want to. You know that.”

“Yeah, I know,” James confirms with a chuckle. “I just hope you won’t.”

“Well, I don’t have any reason to.” Natasha leans her head against his shoulder and snorts. “Other than the fact that you’re an idiot with anarchic tendencies-”

“I thought we agreed to disagree.” James played with her hair. “Though I can’t disagree with that assessment-”

“Idiot,” Natasha sighs.

They are silent for a while, watching the noisy city and the clear sky above. “You seem pretty fine,” James remarks. “With the whole pregnancy thing.”

Natasha thinks about the nausea caused by Tony’s suggestion to keep this thing. “I didn’t want it, it got pushed onto me, I got rid of it. What’s there to lament about?”

James looks like he doesn’t completely agree with her, but doesn’t comment. “Do you know when?”

“When I conceived?” Natasha clarifies. “Doctors say I’m in my eighth week now.”

There’s a moment of silence while James does the math. “Was that- the hotel room in Berlin where we had to pay for the damages? God, I’m really glad we don’t have to tell anyone _that_ story.”

“I had to put make up on the hickeys because you just couldn’t keep to the areas where nobody would see them,” Natasha recalls with dry amusement. “How about we just don’t get a child, then we don’t have to tell anyone anything about how it was conceived.”

“I didn’t think that was even an option.” James puts his hand on top of hers. “But… you would tell me if you weren’t fine, right? You would?”

Natasha considers the question openly for some time. “Yeah. Yeah, I think I would.”


End file.
